Flood displaces 15,000 in Makurdi ON AUGUST 27, 201711:20 PMIN

NEWSCOMMENTS By James Hinga

MAKURDI—NO fewer than 15,000 people have been reportedly sacked from their homes by an early morning rainstorm, yesterday, and a resultant flood that submerged over 2,000 houses in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, and its environs. The flood, the worst after that of 2012 when River Benue broke its banks, also swept away hundreds of millions of Naira worth of property and valuables in a downpour that lasted over four hours. Although no death has been reported, Vanguard gathered that the flood left in its wake tears, as many of the affected persons lost virtually all their valuables. The storm also washed away roads and drains, thereby cutting off some inhabitants off from the main town. The hardest hit areas are Achuasa Media Village, Wadata Rice Mill, Behind Police Zone Four, Larozone Nyiman Quarters, Judges Quarters, Gboko Road, Logo, New Bank Road, Abu, Shuluwa Road and the neighbourhood of Radio Benue, where all the houses in the community, including the transmitter of the state-owned radio station, were submerged. When Vanguard visited some of the affected areas, families were seen vacating their homes with a few belongings. Speaking on their experience, a father of four, John Terngu, who claimed he lost several items to the flood in Achusa, said apart from being a natural disaster, the devastation was made worst by blocked drainage and the erection of buildings on drainage channels. Terngu said: “Our people just build houses in areas that should be channels for excess water to flow to River Benue. “We are paying the price for their wrong and the negligence of the supervising authorities.”

Are you a victim of lost, stolen, or burnt WAEC Original Certificate? The Original WAEC Certificate has been one of the most crucial document required of candidates seeking admission into higher institutions.

We have received so many calls, messages and emails on this topic, so we decided to clarify every individual on the Lost, Stolen or burnt Certificate.

According to the West African Examination Council Issuing of Original Certificate is done Once.

Candidates who lost or Misplaced their Original Certificate are to report to any WAEC Office in the State he or she sat for the examination and apply for “Attestation of Results”.

The Attestation of Result confirms that the indiviual registered and sat for the West African Senor School Certificate Examination [WASSCE].

The document can also be forwarded to the individual respective school by WAEC to verify

Keystone Bank Limited has denied concealing funds meant to be transferred into the Federal Government’s Treasury Single Account. The Federal High Court in Lagos had on Thursday ordered seven commercial banks to temporarily remit a total of $793.2m allegedly hidden by them in contravention of the Federal Government’s TSA policy.

But Keystone Bank, in a statement on Friday said, “In response to the news making the rounds that the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos had made an order directing Keystone Bank Limited to remit the sum of $17m allegedly illegally kept in its custody to the TSA, we wish to state that Keystone Bank has never illegally hidden any amount of money belonging to the Federal Government or any of its agencies. “Details of all Federal Government funds in custody of Keystone Bank had always been fully disclosed to all relevant Federal Government agencies and at no time did Keystone Bank collude or ‎conspire with any official of the Federal Government to disobey the Federal Government directives on the TSA. The lender informed its stakeholders that it would not conduct itself in breach of the laws or policies of the government, including the TSA policy. “We are taking appropriate steps to respond to the issues raised in the Court Order. The bank added.

BREAKING: Court Strikes Out FG’s Case Against Seven Banks

The Federal High Court Sitting in Lagos has struck out a suit filed by the Federal Government against seven commercial banks to seek the remittance of the sum of $793,200,000 allegedly hidden with them in contravention of the Treasury Single Account policy, Channels Tv reports. Justice Chuka Obiozor struck out the suit on Wednesday morning and awarded a cost of N200,000 against FG and in favor of all the affected banks except Skye Bank which was not represented in court. More details later

After an extensive deliberation that lasted three days, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has resolved to embark on an indefinite strike action.

The lecturers union held its meeting at the University of Abuja from Friday and has directed all her members against going to teach or involving themselves in any academic activity.

A statement signed by ASUU President, Biodun Ogunyemi, said all means of negotiation had been exploited before the decision on an indefinte strike action was reached.

Although the statement is expected to be made public at a press conference in Abuja on Monday morning, a top member of the union disclosed the resolution of the meeting and content of the statement to PREMIUM TIMES.

ASUU had earlier asked its branches to conduct referendum among members on whether or not an indefinite strike should be called.

The Abuja meeting which ended in the early hours of Monday reviewed the overwhelming position of the branches to proceed on the strike and adopted it.

The lecturers have complained of poor funding of universities, part-payment of salaries of lecturers and the kidnap of two lecturers of the University of Maiduguri by the Boko Haram.

Man who went to steal in a Catholic Church pretends to be deaf and dumb before judge when he got to court.

There was a mild drama in the court room when a suspect arraigned before the Ejigbo Magistrate court, Lagos, decided to act deaf and dumb to deceive the presiding judge.

Chinedu Samuel, the suspect, was arraigned for allegedly stealing money from a member of the Christ the King Catholic Church. The suspect was arrested by the police at Shasha Division for stealing N31, 000 belonging to a female worshipper, Mrs Josephine Mofe.

On getting to court, Samuel refused to speak in order to deceive the presiding judge who already knew his antics, but played along for the suspect to play out his antics.

NAIJ.com gathered that the culprit was busy gesticulating with his hands after the court registrar had read his charge to him. He pretended to be hearing impaired and did not take his plea.

After allowing him play out his card, the presiding Magistrate, Mr Akeem Fashola, ordered that he be remanded in prison custody since he refused to talk.

It looks like DMW boss, Davido is working on more International collaborations as the singer confirms he has recorded a new song with Jamaican-American singer, Sean Kingston and Canadian hip hop artiste Tory Lanez.

OBO shared the news on his snap chat after posting a picture of the finished track which is titled ‘Kriptonite’. The song is owned by Sean Kingston, with Davido and Tory Lanez as featured artistes.

This wouldn’t be the first time he is working with International stars having worked with Tinashe, Meek Mill as well as Rae Sremmurd and Young Thug on the recently released ‘Pere‘.

President Buhari coming back tomorrow

By Levinus Nwabughiogu ABUJA-President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to return to the country tomorrow,Friday the Presidency said on Thursday. President Buhari A statement signed by the Presidential spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina stated that “President Buhari expresses appreciation to teeming Nigerians from across the country, and beyond, who had prayed fervently for him, and also sent their good wishes.” It will be recalled that the President left the country on January 19, 2017 for a vacation, during which he had routine medical check-ups. He was originally billed to return on February 6 but the holiday was extended based on doctors’ recommendation for further tests and rest.

Davido Vs Wizkid: Who wins the supremacy contest ?

The Nigerian music scene has seen its share of rivalry, down the ages, till now. From Barrister Vs Kollington; Obesere Vs KWAM 1; Onyeka Onwenu Vs Christy Essien Igbokwe; Sunny Okosun Vs Fela Anikulapo-Kuti; and now, Nigeria’s two leading pop stars; Davido and Wizkid having been going at each other’s throats in the past days, jousting for supremacy. In this special edition Potpourri takes a look at their careers and achievements and leaves you with the decision as to who’s greater and the better artiste. Pounds for pounds, this appears to be a fair fight as the two artistes do almost the same genre of music with slight variation as situations demand. Backgrounds Wizkid and Davido Davido, born David Adeleke, 24, is a son of a billionaire who grew up in the US, before coming home to Nigeria to pursue his music career. Wizkid, 26, on the other hand is a local boy, born in Surulere, Lagos, to a lower middle class family but attained prominence with music after slugging it out through the thick and thin of the Nigerian music industry. Davido got his breaks first time with the release of his debut album ‘Omo Baba Olowo’ in 2012. Songs like “All of You”, “Overseas”, “Ekuro”, “Gbon Gbon”,”Feel Alright” and Dami Duro became party anthems. Between 2013 and 2015, Davido released the singles; “Gobe”,”One of a Kind”, Skelewu, “Aye,” “If” and many others. For Wizkid, life began musically in 2010 with the release of his debut album ‘Superstar’, which featured top hits like ‘Holla at your Boy’, “Love My Baby”, “Pakurumo” and “Oluwa Lo Ni” and many others. His second studio album, “Ayo” was released in September 2014 and was preceded by six singles: “Jaiye Jaiye” “On Top Your Matter”, “One Question”, “Joy”, “Bombay”, “Show You the Money”and followed by “Ojuelegba”. Awards Currently, Wizkid holds the bragging rights over Davido for winning the 2017 BET award for Best International Act, African category in which the two of them were nominated. However, by and large, it’s a close match between the duo. In most cases in which both of them were nominated, Davido seems to have the upper hand. Davido has triumphed seven times at the expense of Wizkid, while the Ojuelegba crooner has beaten the Aye man only twice. But all in all, counting non head-to-head situations, Wizkid’s shelf boasts of more awards than Davido. Social media popularity Both of them are very active on the social media. And yet again it’s a close call between them. Instagram followers as at July 6, 2017: Davido- 4,406M ; Wizkid – 3,803M Twitter followers as at July 6, 2017: Davido – 2.4M ; Wizkid – 2.8M YouTube war of popular videos It is very hard to obtain views of all their songs on YouTube. For this reason, we have selected all three of their most popular songs. Songs off their debut album selected for this exercise are Dami Duro from Davido and Pakurumo from Wizkid: Davido’s Dami Duro – 7.5M views ; Wizkid’s Pakurumo 5.2M views Davido’s Aye – 40.M views ; Wizkid’s Ojuelegba – 269,000 views And recently: Davido’s If – 25.7M views ; Wizkid’s 27.7M views. Past and present endorsements Davido has enjoyed major endorsements from only three firms, namely; Pepsi, MTN and Guinness while Wizkid has six majors in this regard, namely; Pepsi, MTN, GLO, Guinness, Hennessy and Frost of London. International collaborations Wizkid seems to be the master in this regard. In our record, Wizkid has ten international collaborations while Davido boasts only of four. Wizkid’s collaborations include: Come Close ft Drake; Sundown ft Zara Larsson; Wine to the Top ft Vijbz; Like This ft DJ Henry; Shabba ft Chris Brown, Trey Songz and French Montana; Mamacita ft Tinnie Tempah; Ojuelegba remix ft Drake; One Dance ft Drake; Soweto Baby ft DJ Maphorisa, DJ Buck; and African Bad Gyal ft Chris Brown. It should be noted that it doesn’t matter who features who, just as long as it is a collaboration. Davido’s collaboration includes: Fans Mi ft Meek Mill; Fine Girl ft Wale and Olamide; Tichelet ft Mafikizolo; and The Sound ft Uhuru and DJ Buckz. Label artistes Davido’s label, Davido Music Worldwide has the likes of Mayorkun, Dremo, Lola Rae, Dammy Krane, Ichaba, Shina Rambo and B-Red under its belt. Curiously, none of these artistes has hit the superstar status. Mayorkun, Lola Rae and Dammy Krane may have some claim to fame but not many music pundits would stick their necks out on it. Wizkid’s Star Boy Records has Mr Eazi, Efya, R2bees, Maleek and DJ Tunes. Mr Eazi is a standout here, and he’s even regarded as the darling boy of the moment. He won the coveted Next Rated Award at the last Headies Award and he has since been making waves. The verdict Based on the facts presented it is left to you to pick your better artiste. For Potpourri, it is just too close to call. Both of them are darn good, and remain, arguably, Nigeria’s best music exports.

AFTER a three-week thorough process of screening and adjudication, 13-man jury of the prestigious All Africa Music Awards,AFRIMA, representing the five regions of Africa, the Diaspora and the African Union Commission, Tuesday, announced nominees for regional categories ahead of its November 9-12, awards ceremony.

The event, held at Renaissance Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, saw the continent’s biggest names in hip hop music go head to head. Two of Africa’s most popular music stars, Davido and Wizkid are to battle for the Best Male category in West Africa. The duo also has the likes of Runtown, Drake, Tekno, Ycee, Mr. Eazi, Guinean MHD and DJ Arafat from Ivory Cost to beat in order to clinch the 23.9karat Gold plate AFRIMA trophy.

Different genre of music

South African rappers, AKA and Nasty C are up for the same category in the Southern Africa region, just as Kenyan hip hop star, Octopizzo will slug it out with Tanzanian Diamond Platnumz and Ethiopian Sinishaw Legesse among others for the Best Male Artiste in the East African region.

While female acts like Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade and Babes Wodumo, Aramide,Viviane Chidid, Seyi Shay, Becca and Zeynab are also nominated for Best Female Act in their respective regions.

Announcing the nominees, Mr. Chris Cyren, the juror from Southern Africa said 4,816 entries from African music professionals and music artistes were received at the close of a two-month entry submission window on July 17, this year. He described the nominations process as rigorous and thorough, as he emphasized on the Jury’s resolve to be fair and transparent in line with the AFRIMA values of FACEIT (fairness, authenticity, creativity, excellence, integrity, transparency).

Charles Tabu, AFRIMA’s juror from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), harped on the need for music lovers in Africa to explore different genre of music from all regions on the continent. Commenting on a question of the criteria of nominees, Mr Bob Ekukole from Cameroon representing Central Africa reiterated that ‘the nominees were picked based on production quality, talent and creativity, melody, originality and authenticity, composition and arrangement. It has to do with the quality of music not on the number of views from any online video platform, some songs from certain regions have more than half a billion views and would have garnered the awards based on such sentiment but it is not so. It has to do with quality.’

Ms Angela Martins, Head, Culture Division, African Union Commission, AUC, noted that the adjudication process was a comprehensive and superb work of the jurors. “This robust submission this year clearly shows the appreciation and recognition of the music awards,” she said, adding that the African Union Commission is geared towards investing in the youth by involving them in the African Union’s 2063 Agenda, which intends to make the youth evolve a desire and expertise in the needed developmental facets of Africa in all areas.